rocking the norms

you know, i'm not going to use mitt romney's dog. but the high school bullying thing is interesting. the immediate provocation was the victim's non-normative hair, which justifies violence on the part of those who appoint themselves to enforce their group norms, no matter how arbitrary or meaningless they may be. well, mitt has never not had non-normative hair, i assume. he's just the kind of fellow who despises you for wearing the wrong blazer, much less dating members of the wrong gender. what i like about social powerhouses like this is that in their leadership they are complete slaves of the norms of their group, and preternaturally sensitive to them and how they should be extended and who's violating them and how. however, the norms change over time, and as you move through different groups. that's why you have extremely passionate commitments, but only momentarily, until the group consensus shifts etc. this is more or less why an alpha preppy passionately enacts whatever hooha will keep him on top for the moment, which is actually the opposite of actually believing anything. the first shall be last: romney's whole career in a nutshell.